COMMUNICATIONS INTERCEPTION: AMENDMENT BILL HEADS TO PARLIAMENT

Please note: On 25 August 2023, the Bill’s explanatory summary was re-gazetted. It is not clear why.

The Department of Justice & Constitutional Development has gazetted an explanatory summary of a Bill amending the Interception of Communications & Provision of Communication-Related Information Act (RICA), in anticipation of its introduction in Parliament.

According to the summary, the Bill responds to a February 2021 Constitutional Court judgment recognising ‘the importance of the right to privacy in the context of state surveillance’.

With that in mind, among other things it seeks to provide for ‘adequate safeguards where the subject of surveillance is a practising lawyer or journalist’. Other issues for which provision is made include:

  • the timeous notification of persons under surveillance
  • withholding notification in certain circumstances, and
  • the lawful management of data.

At the time of writing, the Bill had yet to be published.

Published by SA Legal Academy Policy Watch

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